Blast furnace



April 1940- M. LE CLARICK 2,195,866

BLAST FURNACE Filed July 26, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 40 I I 39 :11 g

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Patented Apr. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Mike it l zcfizsfrgh, Pa.

My invention relates to the blast furnace art, able crushing rollers that are driven by an elecand more particularly to a method and means of tric motor I! or other source of power. The collecting the ore dust, coke particles and small crushed material, as well as the dust from the lumps of limestone that are blown from the top collector 8, will flow through a valve chamber of the furnace during melting operations. ll into a bin l5. This chamber is provided with 5 Considerable diillculty has been experiencedin valves having operating stems I6 and II. A collecting and disposing of the ore dust and lumps discharge spout It leads from the lower side of of coke etc., which are blown from the upper end the bin I! to a valve chamber I9. Valves having of the furnace, and the expense of handling these operating stems 20 and 2| are located within the 1 ejected materials and finally disposing of them chamber I 9. The valves in the chambers l4 and as by sintering the ore dust and recharging it It may be of any suitable type, such as the forms to the furnace, has been an important factor. shown in Fig. 2.

An object of my invention is to provide an During filling of the bin, the valves in chamimproved means and a method of collecting the ber I! are completely closed, so that the blast l5 dust a d lumps of material that are blow from pressure in the blast feed conduit 22 will not 1' the furnace, and to return them to the furnace blow upwardly through the system just described. in a simple and effective manner. The fuel blast is discharged through a header th object of y inv ntion i to provide 23 and nozzles or tuyeres 24 into the lower end means whereby the major portion of the dust of the furnace, in the usual manner. A

may be collected separately from the lumpy ma- After a quantity of ore dust or crushed mano terial, and whereby the coke and other lum terial, or both, has been collected in the bin l5, material may be crushed and r t rn d to the the valves in the valve chamber II are closed and furnace either separately or along with the ore he valves in t c am r are opened: theredust. upon the material will flow from the bin into 25 Still another object is to provide means for the fuel line 22 and be carried into the furnace. g5 feeding small supplemental quantities of material w the bin has been emptied. he valves in into the furnace, at its lower end, the chamber I9 will be closed, and the valves in In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a the chamber II opened to permit the bin I! to be view in somewhat schematic form showing the again filled. The valves in the chamber ll are arrangement of parts that constitute the app vid d in order t p e fl w o as presso paratus for practicing my invention, and Pig. 2 sure upw r y through h yst m while the bin is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of ceris being emptied. tain of the valve structures of Fig. 2. Ordinarily one valve would probably suflice for A blast furnace of conventional type is indieach of the chambers I4 and [9, but I provide cated by the numeral 2. The material for chargtwo valves as an element of safety, so that if one 35 ing the blast furnace, such as ores, coke, lime- 0f the Valves cannot be completely osed, the stone etc. is introduced thorugh the usual chargother valve will suflice to preve upflow 0f D e ing opening 3. I provide pairs of pipes 4 and 5 ur fr m th blast pipe 12. 1 in lieu of (or which may be connected to) the Discharge from the P p 4, which are p usual uptakes at the top of a blast furnace. The a s of the pipes 5, will be to a dust collector o pipes 5 connect with and discharge into a conand a crushing mill, and the dust and crushed duit or pipe 6, from which a pipe 1 leads into a materials will be conducted to the air and gas dust collector 8. The dust-laden gas will flow into l s p p i the m manner as from the the dust collector 8 which is provided with baflie P p plates or other suitable means for collecting the It will be u ders od that the solid materials 5 dust, the gas then flowing oil? through a pipe 9 from the pipes 4 and 5 can be delivered through for further cleansing and use as a fuel. A valve systems suc as that described o supplemenlll controls discharge from the dust collector and ta y b a feed P instead 1' he fuel blast may be left continuously open or opened only pipe 22, nd carried y Said Supplementary pipes periodically to efiect the discharge of dust which int the lower end of the furnace.

has been collected in the-chamber 8. I In some instances it may be found desirable Lumps of material such as coke and small to augment the main charge of coke and limepieces of limestone will, for the most part, fall stone in the blast furnace, in which event addithrough the pipe 6 and through a pipe ll into tional quantities of solid materials may be introa crushing mill I2 which is provided with suitduced into the furnace by placing them directly in the bin I 5 through a bin door and opening the valves in the chamber I 3, so that the materials will flow into the line 22 and be thereby carried into the furnace.

It will be understood that if it is not desired to feed the dust from the collector 8 into the furnace along with the crushed coke, the valve In will normally be kept closed, and the accumulations of ore dust will be fed therefrom only periodically instead of continuously. Also, if desired, the dust can be removed from the collector 8 without feeding it through the bin l5 and into the furnace.

In Fig. 2 I have shown forms of valves which may be employed in both the valve chambers l4 and IS. The valves are contained within a casing 2! that corresponds to either the casing I4 or the casing IS. The casing has an intermediate section 28 that carries valve seats 29 and 30 which are cored or hollow, so that cooling water may be circulated therethrough by pipes 3| and 32. If a considerable quantity of separated materials are being fed through the system at a fairly rapid rate, there will be considerable heat present and the water-cooling of the valve seats and the valves will prevent warping thereof.

The upper valve has a hollow seating portion 32 and a chambered body portion 33 that is welded to a valve stem 34, which is threaded at its upper end for engagement with the hub of a hand wheel 35. The hand wheel is held in place upon the stem casing 36 by a split collar 31 that is bolted to a flange formed integrally with the upper end of the casing 36. The stem 34 is held against rotation by a key 36, so that when the hand wheel 35 is rotated, the valve 32 can be raised and lowered. A packing ring 38 is provided to prevent leakage of gas upwardly along the valve stem. Pipes 39 and 40 communicate with the chamber formed by the members 32 and 33 and serve as a means for circulating water through said chamber.

A lower valve 42 has connection with a stem 43 that carries a hand wheel 44, the stem also having threaded connection with a sleeve 45, so that movement of the valve 42 to and from its seat 30 can be effected through rotation of the hand wheel 44. A packing ring 46 prevents leakage of gas along the valve stem 43.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a blast furnace having a gas discharge pipe and a blast feed pipe, of a downwardly-directed conduit for receiving materials' from said discharge pipe, a pipe leading from the side of said conduit to conduct a flow of gas therefrom, a dust collector for receiving the gas from said pipe andprovided with a gas outlet pipe, a chamber positioned to receive lumps of material from said conduit and dust from said collector, a crusher in said chamber, a valve chamber positioned to receive the material from the last-named chamber, a valve for controlling the flow of said material, a bin for receiving the material from the valve chamber, a conduit leading from the bin to the blast feed pipe, and a valve for controlling flow through the last-named conduit.

2. The combination with a blast furnace having a gas discharge pipe and a blast feed pipe, of a downwardly-directed conduit for receiving materials from said discharge pipe, a pipe leading from the side of said conduit to conduct a flow of gas therefrom, a dust collector for receiving the gas from said pipe and provided with a gas outlet pipe, a chamber positioned to receive lumps of material from said conduit and dust from said collector, a valve for controlling flow of dust from the collector, a crusher in said chamber, a valve chamber positioned to receive the material from the last-named chamber, a valve for controlling the flow of material through the valve chamber, a bin for receiving the. mateerial from the valve chamber, a conduit leading from the bin to the blast feed pipe, and a valve for controlling flow through the last-named conduit.

3. The combination with a blast furnace having a gas discharge pipe, of a downwardly-directed conduit having connection with the said pipe, a pipe leading laterally from said conduit, for conveying gas therefrom, a dust collector into which the last-named pipe discharges, a pipe for conducting gas from the dust collector, means for receiving materials of lump form which pass downwardly through said conduit and the dust from said collector, and means for feeding the lumps into the furnace.

4. The combination with a blast furnace having a gas discharge pipe, of a downwardly-directed conduit having connection with the said pipe, a pipe leading laterally from said conduit, for conveying gas therefrom, a dust collector into which the last-named pipe discharges, a pipe for conducting gas from the dust collector, means for receiving material of lump form which pass downwardly through said conduit and the dust from said collector, means for crushing the lumps, and means for discharging the said material and dust into the furnace.

5. The method which comprises directing the gas discharge from a blast furnace, into a downwardly-directed conduit having a lateral opening through which the lighter materials will flow, the lower end of the conduit being normally closed, crushing the lumps of material which move down through the conduit, and feeding the crushed materials into the furnace.

6. The method which comprises directing the gas discharge from a blast furnace into a downwardly-directed conduit having a lateral opening through which the dust will flow and be thereby separated from the lump material, the lower end of the conduit being normally closed, collecting the dust which flows through said lateral opening, periodically feeding the dust into the furnace, and feeding the lump material into the furnace during periods when the dust is not being fed thereto.

7. The combination with a blast furnace having a gas discharge opening, of a downwardlydirected conduit having connection with the said opening, a crushing mill disposed beneath the said conduit in position to receive lumps of material, a pipe leading laterally from said conduit for conveying dust-laden gas therefrom, a dust collector into which the last-named pipe discharges, a pipe for conducting gas from the dust collector, a valve-controlled discharge outlet leading downwardly from the dust collector, a gravity discharge pipe extending downwardly from the crushing mill, and a blast pipe having communication with the said discharge outlet and the gravity discharge pipe, for receiving the materials therefrom and discharging them into the lower portion of the furnace.

8. The combination with a blast furnace having a gas discharge opening, of a downwardlydirected conduit having connection with the said opening, a crushing mill disposed beneath the said conduit in position to receive lumps of maa valve-controlled discharge outlet leading down-- wardly from the dust collector, a gravity discharge pipe extending downwardly from the crushing mill, a valve controlling flow through said pipe, a bin positioned to receive the materials from said discharge outlet and the lastnamed pipe, a blast pipe disposed below the bin and discharging into the lower portion of the furnace, and a valve-controlled conduit leading from the bin to' the blast pipe MIKE LE CLARICK. 

